Self-indexing storage device.



J. H. RAND.

SELF INDEXING STORAGE DEVICE. APPLIQATION FILED OCT. 29, 1911.

1,296,851. Patented Mar. 11,1919.

S METE'E $2 .MBHNSWQ H3 4 f v z fia m amc JAMES H. BAND, 0]? NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SELF-INDEXING STORAGE DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11,1919.

Application filed October 29, 1917. Serial No. 199,020.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. RAND, a

' of the system is constantly visible. Indexes in which overlapping cards or the like are supported by a bar or strip to which the card is secured at one edge, said strip providing laterally extending projections at each side removably secured in inwardlyfacing guide channels of a uitable panel or frame, are familiar in the prior art, which also contains instances of pockets or containers adapted to hold a card or the like. The invention provides a device of this general character which shall be adapted to hold for convenient access and in overlapping relation a series of relatively flat objects of the class above mentioned, principal ObJects being, to provide for compact storage of and protective covering for a large number of such objects; for-the display of an identifying label, (such as an imprint from a stencil) which will denote the object in each container; and to provide means by which the absence of the stored object from a container not itself absent from the series will be signaled. Other objects are to provide durable and efiicient constructions adapted to the general purposes mentioned.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one preferred embodiment of my invention only,

Figure 1 is a face view of a suitable frame and series of containers;

Fig. 2 is a perspective of a primary supporting bar forming a part of each unit;

. Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective of a secondary supporting bar.

The panel or frame A comprising the inwardly channeled members A, A, may be of any desired or suitable construction, for instance being made as a flat rectangular frame of metal adapted to be hinged on the vertical line on one of the channel members A, hung on a wall, or otherwise adapted to be vertically positioned to be displayed as a whole.

Preferably rectangular bars or strips 1, of a length to fit within the channels A, A, and to slide freely therein are. provided to serve as primary supports for the containers or storage pockets B, Fig. 3. The bars 1 are of material adapted to be flexed to enter or remove the ends of a bar from the channels A, a preferred material. being well seasoned wood. The vertical dimensions of the bars are such as to space their centers apart, when they rest against each other, by the desired verticalwidth of the label or display indication on thebottom of the pockets B. g

The pockets B may be made of strong cardboard or the like, and preferably as shown comprise a rectangular blank 3 having a short upper forward flap 4 and a lower forward flap 5, the fold 3, 4, being open at its sides, and the fold 3, 5, constituting the pocket for the stencil or the like, also preferably being open at the lateral margins, although these margins may besuitably secured together if desired. Flap a is permanently fastened, as by wire staples 6, the fold 3, 4, being adapted to receive and lungs upon a secondary support 8 shorter than the space between channels A, preferably made as a wire hinge member, bent upon itself at its ends 9, and so adapted to be held in the slots 2 of the bars 1, from which it can be removed, along with pocket B, by flexing the bar 1 when it is free from the channels A. The ends 9 of the secondary supports 8 abut against the channels to centrally space the bars 1 and pockets B.

The front wall 5 of the pocket 3, 5, is perforated at 10 to display the back wall of the pocket when the pocket is empty. Preferably the inside of the back wall opposite the window or opening 10 is locally colored at 11 difierently from the front face of flap 5, so that absence of the object 12 usually con tained in the pocket will be signaled by the appearance of the colored signal 11.

The exposed bottom part of the flap 5 is provided with a supplementary pocket adapted to hold a slip 16 identifying the contents of the pocket B of which it forms a part. For instance, a strip 14 of a preferably transparcnt substance, such as celluloid,

pocket, B. The lateral width of may be attached at its lower or both upper and lower margins, as shown, to the strip 5, as by wire staples 15. Strip 11 may cover the signal window 10, and is adapted to receive between itself and the flap 5 the strip or label 16 having thereon an imprint or other identifying mark corresponding to the stencil'or other object to be placed in the the pockets B may be less than the space between channel's'A', asshown.

use, absence of the object contained from any of the containers 1s indicated by appearance of signal 11. Eachof the pockets .5."

- I lnoval'or replacement of its stencil or other :sto'r'ed object, the constantly visible labels 16 .is readily and instantly accessible for repermitting rapid finding of the desired pocket. .Alphabetical or other order for a changing series of the objects is permitted to be maintained by the adaptability of the bars 1 and their attached pockets to be removed and replaced; the secondary supports 1 8 enabling any container to be exposed for 25 .channeled frame, primary supporting and ing members held in the spacing members therein, secondary support- 1ng members carried by said primary mem- '40' from said secondary member's, each of said bers,:-and a series of containers suspended containers having a supplementary pocket adapted to be exposed when the containers are inoverlapping relation. I

A self-indexlng storage device having therein a channeled frame, primary supportchannels in said.

' frame, a series of containers suspended from said supporting members and spaced apart thereby, whereby to hold in overlapped relation and expose the bottoms of said" containers, a signal device at onev side of the exposed portion adapted to be displayed when the container is empty, and means for supporting an identifying label at another part of the exposed area.

7 4. Container supporting means for a selfindexing storage device consisting of a rectangular wooden bar having slots at its ends, and having a wire secondary support upon which the container can be hung held on the bar by engagement of hooked ends of the wire with the slots in the bar.

5. A unit for self-indexing storage devices comprising a container, a wire support included in a fold of the container, said support having hooked ends, and a primary support having'slotted ends'adapted to engage the hookedends of said wire support.

6. A self-indexing sto1 .igedevice comprising a channeled frame,primary supporting and spacing bars adapted to be flexed for engagement and disengagement with chan nels in said frame, slots in the end of said bars, secondary supports having ends adapted to be received in and held by said slots,

whereby laterally to position said primary and secondary supportingmeans, and containers suspended from said secondary Supports. I y

7. A cardboard container for self-indexing storage systems comprising a pocketforming fold, a supporting fold, a visible signal adapted to be displayed when the container is empty, and a supplementary pocket attached to said pocket-forming fold.

8. A cardboard container for self-indexing storage systems comprising a pocketforming fold, a supporting fold, a visible signal adapted to be displayed when the container is empty, and a supplementary pocket attached to said pocket-forming fold having a transparent wall adapted to display a Y label.

this twenty-second day of October, 1917.

I JAMES H. RAND.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, 

